Black Friday Forever: iPayYou Unveils Bitcoin Payments For Amazon

Bitcoin payment gateway iPayYou has announced its Black Friday-inspired Amazon Direct, an integrated tool allowing users to purchase on Amazon using Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin payment gateway iPayYou has announced its Black Friday-inspired Amazon Direct, an integrated tool allowing users to purchase on Amazon using Bitcoin.

100 mln Amazon products for Bitcoin

iPayYou, which launched in May 2016, has quickly amassed a range of tools which let consumers shop from mainstream merchants without touching fiat currency.

“Amazon Direct is revolutionizing the way consumers are able to spend their Bitcoin by granting them access to buy more than 100 million products at the world’s largest store,” Founder and CEO Gene Kavner said in a press release issued on Tuesday.

The company officially announced the news on its Twitter page on Wednesday:

iPayYou previously offered gift cards for retailers including Amazon, Starbucks and iTunes, which consumers could purchase with Bitcoin. Its concept is similar to that of extant startup Purse.io, which offers discounts on Amazon to customers using its portal to pay with the virtual currency.

Bitcoin solves Amazon payment ‘friction’

Kavner is eyeing a persistent gap in the market. As a former Amazon executive, he noticed the constant “friction” between customers and payments when these were conducted via traditional means.

“During my time as an executive at Amazon, we closely studied the friction points and obstacles faced by shoppers, including and especially with payments,” he said.

“Bitcoin is a solution to so many of those problems.”

The Amazon Direct tool comes in the form of an integrated tab in iPayYou’s platform. Users specify the amount of Bitcoin to be sent, whereupon it is converted to USD and added to their Amazon balance. Users can then shop on Amazon using this USD credit.

Kavner describes it as “the most direct way to spend Bitcoin anywhere.”

“We want Bitcoin to be the everyday default currency,” he stated. “The only way for that to become a reality is to provide consumers with practical ways to spend their Bitcoin.”

Amazon Bitcoin market going global

Purse meanwhile continues its rapid expansion beyond the U.S. into developing markets. Its push into Latin America and Mexico in October was preceded by the launch of its branch in India earlier this year.

Offering roughly 15 percent off Amazon India items, the country quickly grew to become Purse’s second-largest as of November.

The UK and Venezuela occupied third and fourth places respectively, with the original U.S. market still holding the top spot.